The present invention relates generally to fertilizers for use in stimulating the health and growth of plants.
Sixteen chemical elements are known to be important to a plant's growth and survival. The sixteen chemical elements are divided into two main groups: non-mineral and mineral. The non-mineral nutrients are hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), & carbon (C). The mineral nutrients are divided between macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients can be broken into two more groups: primary and secondary nutrients. The primary nutrients are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). The secondary nutrients are calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S). Micronutrients are those elements essential for plant growth which are needed in only very small (micro) quantities. These elements are sometimes called minor elements or trace elements, but use of the term micronutrient is encouraged by the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. The micronutrients are boron (B), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), chloride (Cl), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo) and zinc (Zn).
Fertilizers are added to the soil or foliage of crops to supply elements needed for plant nutrition which are lacking from the soil. Typically, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the principal components of such fertilizers. Calcium is often supplied separately in the form of (dolomitic) lime added separately to the soil. Calcium is an essential part of plant cell wall structure, and has roles in uptake of other nutrients, growth, and the ability of the plant to mitigate the effects of heat stress. Calcium is also thought to counteract the effect of alkali salts and organic acids within a plant.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,795 describes a dry concentrated fertilizer which is readily water soluble, providing a combination of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compounds with secondary nutrients, micronutrients, and a growth enhancing mixture comprising at least one or more growth promoters, vitamins, amino acids, carbohydrates, polysaccharides, and adjuvants. One commercially available fertilizer providing these components is available from Miller Chemical as Nutrient Express®.
WO2006134361 describes an agricultural composition containing a water-soluble salt of calcium and an auxin mimic that is a substituted diphenyl urea or a derivative thereof. This document describes the limited ability of plants to take up calcium and indicates that its auxin mimic assists in plant uptake of the calcium.
There continues to be a need in the art for new agricultural compositions such as fertilizers that supply nutrients to plants in a readily available form.